During the DNC Event in New York City on November 3rd, 2015, Barack Obama named his track record as 44th President of the United States. Here are his six arguments:
1. When I took office, we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, unemployment on the way to 11 percent.
Because of you, over the last five and a half years, our businesses have created more than 13 million jobs.
The unemployment rate is down to 5.1 percent.
The job openings are highest in any time since the 1970s.
2. We were warned we couldn’t reform Wall Street, or create new protections for consumers, or ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a little bit more without stifling the markets and crushing jobs. And we did it, and the stock market more than doubled and we’ve seen the longest streak of job creation in American history.
3. When I took office, more than 15 percent of Americans didn’t have health insurance.
We changed that.
For the first time on record, more than 90 percent of Americans do have coverage.
But so far, we’ve covered 17 million Americans,
and we’ve cut the deficit by two-thirds.
Health care inflation has increased at the slowest rate in 50 years during this entire time. And it just so happens this all started right when I signed Obamacare into law.
4. When I took office, we were hopelessly addicted to foreign oil;
We’ve cut our oil imports by more than half.
We have tripled the amount of energy we generate from wind.
Twenty times more solar power is generated today than it was when I took office.
We were told we couldn’t grow American energy without rising emissions that caused climate change — but we did. American energy is booming. Prices are falling. As the economy continues to grow, America has cut our carbon pollution by more than any other country on Earth.
5. When I took office, our influence around the world was waning, our standing diminished.
And we changed that.
Today, America leads the world in confronting new threats.
We made sure Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon.
We’re making sure that we address climate change globally.
We’re writing smarter, stronger trade rules for the 21st century.
We’ve begun a new chapter working with the Cuban people.
We have brought thousands of brave Americans home to their families.
There is not a measure economically by which if Ronald Reagan were here and asked the question, are you better off than you were four years ago — the answer would be yes.
And that’s just on economics and on foreign policy.
But, of course, the idea of America that was represented here is more than just numbers, it’s more than just statistics. It’s about who we are, who’s seen, who’s recognized, whose histories are affirmed.
6. We were told, for example, that we couldn’t change this country when it came to how we treat people based on who they love.
And suddenly, marriage equality is now a reality in all 50 states. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” don’t exist no more.
